Apr 30, 2015

Thoughts On Thursdays: Finding Your Champions & Ignoring The Trolls


For a while I have questioned why I blog. Not in a negative sense, but in the way where I wonder what keeps me moving, what keeps me motivated and why I continue to do it daily. As a blogging community social media has become such a huge part of our every day lives. Oftentimes at conferences one of the biggest things that bloggers want to discuss is how to deal with negativity on a daily basis. Naturally when you are putting yourself out there, it's hard not to get some negative feedback.

Whether or not you feel like you're doing everything right, someone will always be there thinking differently or disagreeing with what you do. Unfortunately, there are people like this in our every day lives too, the only difference is that with social media, comes the ability to hide behind a computer screen.

I've gotten a few negative comments throughout my four years of blogging, and I'll admit- it killed me. It still hurts my feelings to this day when someone writes something mean or leaves a nasty comment. Why? Because I am human. The only difference between me and the average person is that part of my life is public. This is a side that I choose to put out there, with trepidation. It's a side that I curate and allow to be seen as part of my blogging business. At the end of the day, it's who I am, but it also is *my business.* I am, in a way-selling myself, selling my thoughts, ideas and "whole look."


Part of the reason why I chose to write this is because I think it's easy to assume that someone has a perfect life because of what you see on social media. Social media is a portion of who we are as people. It's not everything. It's a mere glimpse into someone's life. We all have feelings, and we all need to start being nicer to each other in general.

At Texas Style Council Shalyn talked a lot about focusing on the negative rather than the positive. This is one of the things that truly stuck with me. Like many other girls I focus on those negative comments instead of focusing on the good things people say. Why don't we focus on the good stuff instead of the bad? Focusing your attention on the people who do follow everyday, the people who comment, and the people who really believe in your dreams. These are our champions.

The negative is easy to talk about. It's easy to focus on, and it's easy to let that information seep into your brain. As hard as it is, you need to put that behind you and realize that you could be the most amazing human being that ever walked this earth- people may still have an opinion, and that is their right. We all have choices, and choosing to take the high road is always the right choice.

Who are your champions? They're your people. The people who get excited when you have a new project coming up, the people who always support your choices whether or not they succeed or fail. These are the people who think you're the bees knees. THOSE are the people who matter. Not the ones who write something anonymously and run to hide behind their computers. Those people are just a blip in your internet world. They're not the ones you need to worry about.

I urge you, as someone who has always been focused on the negative- to let it all go. Keep your head up, and always remember that you have tons of people behind you that believe in what you do and who you are.


5 comments:

  1. i have only even received some very miniscule negative comments, but they still hurt. bc i'm human, at first i want to be defensive, and then i realize they don't care enough about me to hear me out. if they did, they wouldn't have written a nasty comment. i try to remember that it's okay that not everyone cares about me. i try instead to put my energy into those that do, just like you said. it's easy to forget sometimes, but those are the people that we are building internet relationships with xo

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  2. Well said. And so important to remember!

    xo Rachael / The Paraders

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  3. great post! can't let the haters bring you down-- there's too many awesome people to meet that make it all worth it

    xx nikki
    www.dream-in-neon.com

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